MLK Jr. luncheon’s speakers echo his desires

RIO RANCHO – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud had he attended the annual luncheon held in his honor Monday at Community of Joy Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho.

The annual event is sponsored by the Southern Christian leadership Conference of New Mexico (SCLCNM).

It would have been his 95th birthday, and he would have heard several messages from people extolling his virtues, his dreams, his desires. And his hopes that everyone – Black, white, yellow, brown – will exercise his/her right to vote.

In fact, getting out to vote or even taking a neighbor to the polls was urged, with no political parties or candidates mentioned.

“Everything is good,” is how the two-plus hour luncheon began, and, indeed, it was.

After an introduction of the various city, county and state officials in attendance, U.S. District 1 Rep. Melanie Stansbury.

“We know that all across the country, there are cities, states, municipalities trying to steal that right (to vote) away from our communities,” she said. “But I am proud to say that we live in a state where the state legislature, which is going to meet tomorrow, has taken every possible step to protect the rights of those here in New Mexico.

“In those final days and weeks, (MLK Jr.) spoke a lot about the darkness of the time … and he spoke about the mountain of despair that people were still experiencing: poverty, the fight for racial justice and war and all the things we were facing as a society over 60 years ago,” she said. “And as we look around us today, we’re still facing those same challenges. But the thing Dr. King reminded us was that in that mountain of despair, we have continued to use this stone of hope. … That is truly our challenge.”

Rev. Charles Becknell Sr., the state president of SCLCNM, told the gathering of close to 120 people that his conference has a trio of agenda items for the coming year:

1. Education, which he wants to see “promoted from the pulpits,” because kids will listen. Becknell said that at his church, he sees youngsters’ report cards, and knowing that, they strive to do better in the classrooms. In line with education, he said the SCLCNM has obtained $60,500 in donations to supplement scholarships for students at UNM and CBNM
2. Health: Eating too much, eating the wrong stuff, heart trouble and blood pressure problems need to be resolved; “Take care of ourselves,” he said, noting at his advanced age, “I’m relatively healthy.”
3. Non-violence training for law enforcement: Becknell said during his youth, when he was growing up in Hobbs, differences were settled by fistfights or discussions, not with knives and guns, as many differences are settled in the 21dst century.

After being introduced as “a fine, young Christian woman,” it was guest speaker Karissa Culbreath’s time, and she recalled how as a young Black girl who wanted to be a math teacher, she was discouraged and advised to pick another career.

Now a resident and a city councilor in the City of Vision, it was only coincidence that she had a problem with her vision as a youngster, not realizing she needed glasses until an optometrist put corrective lenses in front of her eyes.

And that memory segued into her message, that there is a difference between sight and vision; yes, MLK had a dream, but more importantly, he had a vision.

“Sight is the ability to capture an image with your eyes,” she explained, “but vision is something more than just sight. Vision is the ability to process and understand the things we see in order to be able to act on that information.

“The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has eyes open. We often talk about the dream Dr. King had, Dr. King had more than a dream, he had a vision,” Culbreath said, passionately and emphatically. “In fact, his eyes were wide open to the injustice that was faced by him and others.”

The problem is, she said, there are too many dreamers, with their eyes closed, “but there are few people who have the courage to open their eyes and be visionaries.

“I believe that today we have many people who are stuck in a dream, but not willing to open their eyes,” she said. “To be a visionary, you need corrective vision. Almost right is just as wrong as wrong.”

Unfortunately, “Seeing things as they are isn’t always pretty … Visionaries require empathy,” Culbreath said. As visionaries, “We must be compelled to act.”

Monetary donations and non-perishable food items donated at the luncheon will go to Storehouse West, Becknell said, a tradition for the past 15 years.

And, certainly, Dr. King would have been smiling had he heard what those at the church on Saratoga Road heard that day.